Master's Scholarship Day 6: Kennywood 21/08/14

As I mentioned at the beginning of my Master’s Scholarship Write-ups, the ride that really got me interested in the theme park world was Nemesis Inferno at Thorpe Park. But in those first few months, when I was reading and watching everything I could find related to the industry, there was another specific ride that caught my imagination. There was a series of TV shows on what I think was then Sky 3 (or the Travel Channel? Or both) that showcased a large number of the latest and greatest rides from all corners of the globe, and one of these rides was the legendary Phantom’s Revenge, at Kennywood, near Pittsburgh. Kennywood has a bit of a reputation for being unpleasant, partially due to clientèle, partially due to upkeep (I found all of this to be unfounded), and so it took a little bit of work to convince myself to visit, considering how out of the way it is (a three and a half hour drive for just one really significant coaster). But I realised, because of this location, if I didn't visit on this trip, I’d almost certainly never go, and so onto the list it went. The trans-Penn drive was easy; there are few major towns in between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh, and soon I was staring into the valleys of huge steel mills. It’s not exactly the best view, but that’s what an industrial city looks like, and Kennywood is actually perched rather effectively on the edge of a hill.

Kennywood's skyline is dominated by one ride in particular...

The best comparison to draw is to Blackpool Pleasure Beach: both parks have a very long history, between them they are home to three of the eight oldest operating coasters in the world, and of course they therefore each have a number of rare woodies. They are both home to a huge Arrow hyper coaster, built in the nineties, and since then neither have done a great deal. Kennywood, however, takes on and defeats Blackpool in virtually every category. Upon entrance it is very noticeable how impeccably clean the park is, and they have obviously invested seriously in the last few years in new restaurants (they have a brand new Johnny Rocket’s diner), theming and general upkeep. The layout of the park is weird; their newest coaster, Sky Rocket, is right by the entrance, but it’s separated from the vast majority of rides by a huge stretch of restaurants, shops and stalls. This is presumably due to the park’s precarious location, and their desire to utilise it to its best effect in some of the attractions. I took a little time to take in the quaint surroundings, but ultimately I had only one thing on my mind.

Phantom’s Revenge

Humour me a little whilst I retell the story of the Phantom, a tale which captivated me when I saw it on TV almost ten years ago. In 1991 Kennywood opted to spend big; they decided to build the world’s fastest roller coaster. Steel Phantom would be the second hypercoaster from Arrow Dynamics, at the time the premier steel roller coaster manufacturer. But unlike its predecessor, Magnum XL200 at Cedar Point, this one would have inversions. The huge grey track first crawled 160ft in the air, an impressive but not staggering height at the time, before a curved first drop. However, unusually, and due to excellent optimisation of terrain, the second drop was even larger. Ascending the second hill riders were then faced with a world record 225ft plunge right into the ravine below. This drop maxed out at 82mph and thrust the train right through the structure of Thunderbolt, one of the world’s oldest roller coasters. Steel Phantom then turned riders through four hugely forceful inversions before taking them back to the station.

The visible half of the colossal second drop

At the time the ride was a hit. But in the following decade it started to decline in popularity. The inversions at the end proved too ambitious, and were hurting riders to the extent that they simply wouldn’t ride anymore. Hypercoasters were becoming more and more popular, but none of them featured inversions. So, whilst most parks would simply build a new, more popular ride as well, or maybe even tear down the old and replace it, Kennywood decided that they were so close to perfection that they would physically remodel half of the Steel Phantom. The year was 2001, and the park opted not to go back to Arrow, who were in decline at the time, but rather go to Morgan; one of the leading hypercoaster manufacturers at the turn of the century. They replaced the first drop track, albeit identically, extended the second drop to 228ft, cut out all four inversions and replaced them with a swooping banked turn and a number of airtime hills, replaced the over-the-shoulder-restraint trains with lap bar versions, increased the speed to 85mph, and also marginally the length. The ride was repainted a serpentine green and reborn as Phantom’s Revenge.

This kind of banked curve replaced the ride's inversions

The mechanical nature of the rebuild was what fascinated me, along with the almost macabre punishing second drop, and since I enjoyed Desperado (Buffalo Bill’s, Nevada) so much, another Arrow Hypercoaster, I knew I couldn't possibly miss out on this one. At this point the park was almost deserted, and the only wait was for them to actually open the ride. As a result I got on the first train of the day, bar a couple of test runs. The first thing I noticed was how comfortable the trains are. I expected them to be identical to Steel Force’s, another Morgan Hypercoaster I’d done a few days before, which are effectively coffins on wheels: just boxy fibreglass cases with rigid seats. But these were much more spacious, much more open, and the restraint was a comfy T-Bar. Up the lift we went and I had meagre expectations for the first drop. Luckily I was very wrong; it’s sudden and snappy and really good fun. There’s then an odd bit of perfectly straight track before climbing the second hill to the precipice of the landscape. The second drop is just what I’d hoped: it’s so far down you can barely see the track as it disappears into Thunderbolt’s structure. The drop itself is phenomenal; it rockets you out of your seat and is obviously very prolonged, but the head-chopper effect is what completes it. Usually on a ride you instinctively retract your hands, even though you know full well there’s plenty of room, but in this case I genuinely thought they would get smacked off. You then rise through a big banked curve, before diving back through Thunderbolt with a fantastic pop of airtime. Another lunging turn is followed by the bunny hop finale, which isn't overly intense but high quality and sustained. I was really blown away. Considering the ride in its first incarnation is twenty three years old, and even the second thirteen years, it rides beautifully smoothly and has none of that ‘old steel coaster’ feel about it. The Arrow equivalents are hilariously badly designed, as if they were modelled with coat hangers, but even the Morgan ones are not great by today’s standards. I am extremely glad that Phantom’s Revenge is a ride I now cherish, and has sneaked into my Top 10 at number nine, ahead of supremely highly regarded rides such as Helix and Phoenix.

Black Widow

I often skip flat rides (ie. rides which aren't roller coasters; they don’t run on tracks and so are ‘flat’), but Black Widow was impossible to miss, in every sense. This Giant Discovery from Zamperla is similar to hundreds of different models under hundreds of different names around the world; the riders sit in a circle on the end of a pendulum and are swung back and forth. What sets this apart is that this thing is flipping massive. I mean it’s really, really big. Drop towers aside, Zamperla’s version is probably the biggest flat ride in the world. As it happens it’s also fantastic fun to ride. It starts pretty gently, gradually working up to its 145ft apex and top speed of 68mph. The pendulum goes way past the horizontal mark, and so there is some world class upside down floating zero-g. The ride cycle is very generous, and with the park still so empty I would've gone for another go if it weren't for a ridiculously long loading time of about fifteen minutes. As such I decided to move on to some old school attractions.

What's in a name? Black Widows are quite small aren't they?

Thunderbolt

Thunderbolt, like Phantom, is built into the side of the ravine; but unlike Phantom having the solitary drop, Thunderbolt is entirely in the ravine. It looks phenomenal. It’s an unbelievably ambitious layout considering it’s ninety this year, and I was expecting a fun, mild and comfortable ride. I was a little bit miffed when I discovered there were no single riders; not as in there was no line for single riders, but as in people could not ride on their own, but after a bit of waiting I found another loner buddy. Then I found out why. We spent the entirety of the ride clinging to our respective sides of the car and still must've smashed into each other about twenty times. It is absolutely brutal. It started off pretty fun, the drops are good, but by about halfway it exits the ravine and proceeds to just turn without banking for a good thirty seconds. It’s a shame because it looks so nice, and since it’s so old I can’t see it ever being removed without serious reason, but I will never, ever be going on it again. I apologised to my buddy profusely, and him to me, before we went our separate ways.

Don't be fooled: the placid-looking Thunderbolt is anything but. Ribs will be bruised.

Racer

At a sprightly 87, Racer is the parks ‘newest’ wooden roller coaster. It’s very much the tamest of the bunch, although I was unaware of that when I got on. It’s perfectly pleasant, impeccably maintained and looks really good too with its slick dark brown paint job. It provides little to nothing in the way of thrills, but would be an ideal starter ride for youngsters.

Sky Rocket

My comparison to Blackpool was a little unfair; unlike the seaside park Kennywood has actually installed a new roller coaster in the last twenty years (in fact more than one). Sky Rocket debuted in 2010 in order to bring some modernity to the park; it’s a launch coaster from Premier Rides, who built classics like the Mummy coasters at Universal parks, and the Flight of Fear clones, so the park new they were in good hands. There’s something about the ride that seems a little juvenile, it may be the hideous trains that look like they were drawn by a six year old, but I think it’s just the fact that it’s not too intense. The launch is fun but mild, the drop is vertical, but after the launch you don’t really get any time for a build up of anticipation. There are then a couple of inversions before a wicked complete stop and vertical dive combo, with a couple of bizarre slalom-like twists rounding off the ride. It feels very similar to Gerstlauer’s Eurofighters; a little awkward and forced, but all around it’s solid. The one major qualm I have is the god-awful restraints. Like a lot of modern ride manufacturers, Premier have gone for a lap bar system on a looping coaster, which is a great idea because it provides so much freedom, but they’ve also included a nightmarish shin guard on each seat. The guard comes down with the lap bar, and so if you want your bar to be down far enough to prevent you from falling out, the shin guard also has to be squeezing your lower legs at an awful angle. It makes no sense at all; there was nothing to guard your shins from, and now they’re being molested by this wad of solid plastic in the guise of protection. It was enough to stop me from going on again; I spent the whole ride trying to angle myself sideways to avoid it.

The majority of Sky Rocket's wacky layout is concealed from view

Potato Patch

By now you know I like food. One food that I’m particularly partial to is the French fry. Personally, I’d always call it a chip, regardless of where I was eating it, but whichever title you designate they’re a pretty great creation. So when I heard that Kennywood was home to what had been frequently voted the best French fry in North America, I knew where I was having lunch. Potato Patch has been a trademark of Kennywood for over forty years now; it’s so popular that the park has opened two other outlets in the park that sell the same fries, and queues can still reach over an hour. I headed there quite late, maybe around half three, and the line was still more than fifteen minutes long. The fries are the only thing on the menu, though there is the very popular option of cheese and bacon (which I forwent) as well as a huge variety of salts and condiments. The potatoes are cut before your very eyes, soaked in water and fried fresh right there. I can confirm that they are fantastic; they’re soft and fluffy but with the skin still on so they’re crispy too. But I won’t overhype them; sure they’re the best North American fries I’ve had, but better than the best British chips? I don’t think so.

The fries, and below right, the queue for the fries

Exterminator and Jack Rabbit

Back to Blackpool: if there’s anything that defines the classic British park it’s tacky theming. Think the River Caves or Alice in Wonderland; it’s grotesque and very garish. Kennywood went all out in that respect with Exterminator, just from the theme you can tell how ridiculous it is: a factory overrun by gigantic mutant rats, being battled by an anti-vermin team. The ride is a very bog-standard Reverchon Spinning Mouse, the kind you find on piers and at funfairs, but it’s dressed up in this fantastic housing. The queue line is full of sirens and banks of switchboard computers, and the cars themselves are the giant rodents. There are animatronic pest control ‘bad guys’ hiding around every corner, and the track layout reflects a rat’s movement perfectly; you dart from floor to floor, crash around corners and jump little walls. It’s such a simple ride, but so a creative a premise, and it’s been executed perfectly.

Theming of the gaudiest quality: guest are plunged straight into a concrete underground warehouse

The final coaster of the day was the last, and oldest, of the woodies. Jack Rabbit is on the other side of the park to Thunderbolt and Phantom, being near Sky Rocket and the entrance, but it exploits the landscape similarly. The ride sits across a large trench, and effectively just drops into it four times. It sounds dull, but the drops are brilliant and caught me completely off-guard. The lift hill is in the middle of the ride, and the drop that follows it is the standout moment; it’s a double-down that catches you just before your smash into the seat on both of its dips. Unlike the adjacent and beautiful Racer, this thing looks like it’s about to fall apart, but that doesn’t matter in the slightest: it’s an excellent ride.

One final look: Phantom's curving first drop

I have to say I was very impressed with Kennywood, any misconceptions I had before were quickly erased and I thoroughly enjoyed all aspects of my day. It’s a park that delivers on all fronts; good thrill rides, good family rides, good theming and good food. There isn’t much room for expansion, but maybe they’ll realise that the pile-of-awful that is Thunderbolt is on its last legs. My Master’s Scholarship was over, for the moment, and it ended on a very sweet note indeed.